The Curious Case of Carey Price

Let's assume for a minute that there is method to Gainey's madness and he continues to play Price not for the blind egotistical reasons that seem to encumber him but because he knows this year's team isn't good enough to win the Cup and wants to get Price the necessary experience to make him better long term.

I've been racking my brain and I'm trying to think of there's ever been a precedent for this type of experiment. Has there ever been another goalie you guys can think of that was brought along this way? When I think of goalies in the last 25 years or so that have had success Brodeur, Roy, Fuhr, Belfour, Roy, Hasek, Kiprusoff etc. has there ever been a goalie "taught" how to adapt to the playoffs this way?

On a side note - the TSN panel finally mentioned the injuries the Habs had being a factor to which James Duthie sneered "excuses." God how I loathe the Leafs glee club getting these plum jobs in the national (Toronto) media...

Excuses my ass. Take Chara, Krejci, Wideman and Ryder off the Bruins and see how well they do.

Since you bring that up, we pretty much found that out last year. Chara and Savard were playing hurt (and I mean, seriously hurt, labrum tear and vertebra fracture respectively) and we were without Bergeron and Kobasew, as well as Manny Fernandez, although he had been replaced by Auld. Sobotka, Nokelainen, Schaeffer and Reich were all in the lineup as regular contributors.

I believe Ferrence spent all or part of last year's playoffs out of action as well and Ward was day to day.

I'm not quite sure how that all stacks up with what you guys faced this year, but it bears thinking about. On the whole though it's all pretty irrelevant. The better, healthier, more skilled, and frankly luckier team won last year, and it looks to be going the same way this year.

For the record I fully expect the Canadiens to put up a last stand and steal Game 4 to preserve their honor. I almost hope so, since I want the Bruins to win in the Garden.

There's no magic formula IMO. You're a goalie, stop the puck. It doesn't change in the playoffs, there's just more pressure. Either you can handle it or you can't. Nothing will change that. You can't be taught how to handle the pressure.

That being said, Carey didn't cost us this series, far from it. He was average.

He now has 2 years playoff experience behind him and he's 21. This can only be a plus. If he ends up being scarred for life because he didn't win 2 cups in his first 2 years then.. well.. he was never going to win anything anyway.

Raycroft is a good example. Too much too soon and his confidence was destroyed. Raycroft has a very similar demeanor to Price ... a very "no cares in the world attitude" no matter what the circumstance. Raycroft's style was very similar to Price. A big goalie that was very sound positionally ... when he had is confidence.

Yeah, but to be clear I'm not saying, and I'm pretty sure you're not saying, that Price is definitely headed to a result the same as Raycroft's (and to be fair, even Raycroft still may have a chance to save himself). Just that the start is the same and that he's one kid who was thrown into the playoff cauldron way too young.

Raycroft is a good example. Too much too soon and his confidence was destroyed. Raycroft has a very similar demeanor to Price ... a very "no cares in the world attitude" no matter what the circumstance. Raycroft's style was very similar to Price. A big goalie that was very sound positionally ... when he had is confidence.

It's been repeated adnauseum, but goalies hit there prime in there late 20s. The jury is still out on price, who on the surface of it, has all the god given ability it takes to be a franchise player. Is he gonna put up the necessary work involved to be that kind of player? Is he gonna clear a space between his ears and commit to being a winner regardless of the circumstances? That's the question. No doubt Gainey played him for his Price's own good rather than the team's own good. Pay the price now and get the rewards later?

Not only were some of the goals stoppable, every shot he has faced this series has been an adventure. you can tell he is off even when he makes a save. Any shot could go in at any time. The kid is so off right now. He needs to work his ass off this summer and prove that this was a fluke. The problem is, i dont know if he has the work ethic or drive to do that. Time will tell.

On a side note - the TSN panel finally mentioned the injuries the Habs had being a factor to which James Duthie sneered "excuses." God how I loathe the Leafs glee club getting these plum jobs in the national (Toronto) media...

You crushed my world. I actually really like Duthie (as much as Ronnie Mac)....and now...I will punch him in the face if I see him.

edit: k, I didn't see it so I could imagine him saying it in a humorous way. don't think I like it though.

Actually you will recall that Savard played with a fractured back, as was shown with the xrays after the series.

#2 Center Bergeron was out the whole series

Chara played with an injury so severe he couldn't take slap shots. You remember his wrist shots from the point on the PP?

Kobasew our #2 RW out

and Manny out also

And we took it a tough 7 against a MUCH better team

only reason that happened is cuz Kessel did what Akost and Plekanec failed to do for us. Also Julien is a great coach. Two of the three games this series have been one goal games. One bounce here or there and it could have been very different and headed for 7. Also, Chara may have been injured...but he still played. I would take Markov at Chara's "injury level" over not having him at all and I think that he would have made a very big difference. Same goes for Lang. Only person of real importance who didn't play was Bergeron (i'm not buying into Kobasew LAST year beign such a huge factor).

Original.. Blaming goaltending again and over again.. Price has been quite solid in this serie, he is the last one to blame for the 3-0 deficit.. You have to be retard to target Price when there was absolutely nothing he could do to change anything.. This serie hasnt been played in the net but rather in front of the goaltenders, thats a good lesson for us and its time to start on new basics..

only reason that happened is cuz Kessel did what Akost and Plekanec failed to do for us. Also Julien is a great coach. Two of the three games this series have been one goal games. One bounce here or there and it could have been very different and headed for 7. Also, Chara may have been injured...but he still played. I would take Markov at Chara's "injury level" over not having him at all and I think that he would have made a very big difference. Same goes for Lang. Only person of real importance who didn't play was Bergeron (i'm not buying into Kobasew LAST year beign such a huge factor).

Kobasew is a huge hab killer though! Our power play % against you guys last year with Savard-Kessel-Krejci-Chara-Wideman and co was 10%. This year it's near 40%. So that gives you a pretty good idea of how beat up Savy and Chara were when the powerplay guys are so similar...

And I know Markov plays the PK, but maybe I could see him impacting 5%. Still a gap of over 25% there!